Electroadhesion Allows Robots To Climb Walls Easily

The smart folks over at SRI International are busy working on a new technology dubbed compliant electroadhesion, which is a method that allows an object with electroadhesive properties to be held onto or stuck to most common surfaces, such as wood, glass, bricks or concrete by inducing electrostatic charges. This method is useful as it only uses a small amount of power, as 40mW of power will be able to allow 11 square feet of an electroadhesive to be able to support 440lbs. Another benefit of this system is that it can be turned on or off with a flick of a switch, making it a useful method to create wall-climbing robots or allow robots to hold a variety of objects without the need for mechanically complex hands. Check out a video of such technology in action after the jump (hint: a robot is involved).